THE AFL's contractual obligation that ties a new Gold Coast team to the Gabba until 2015 is proving a serious stumbling block to its Gold Coast ambitions, with the code seemingly locked on a collision course with the Queensland Government.

Queensland Sports Minister Judy Spence yesterday released a strongly worded statement saying the state government expected the AFL to honour the agreement following a meeting with chief executive Andrew Demetriou.

Spence's statement said that the State Government redeveloped the Gabba at a cost of $182 million to accommodate the relocation of the then-Brisbane Bears from Carrara.

In order to maximise return on that investment, an agreement was reached with the AFL that in the event of a second team being located in south-east Queensland, all games would be played at the Gabba until 2015.

The final stage of the development included a second set of player change rooms and facilities to accommodate a second home team.

"These were built instead of using that space for other commercial facilities which would have generated income for Stadiums Queensland," Spence said. "If the deal was not honoured by the AFL the Gabba would forego millions of dollars in lost revenue … In light of this, the government expects the terms of the agreement will be honoured by the AFL."

The statement overshadowed the Gold Coast bidding team's public launch at Surfers Paradise yesterday, with the AFL's chief broadcasting and commercial officer, Gillon McLachlan, bombarded with questions about where the prospective team would play its games.

McLachlan would only say that the AFL remained hopeful of persuading the Queensland Government to vary the agreement and would not speculate on the possible payment of compensation, mooted at up to $40 million.

"We've acknowledged the agreement exists, that's always been understood," McLachlan said. "It's our challenge to convince the government of the merits of making an adjustment to that."

The AFL now finds itself in the difficult position of attempting to extract itself from one stadium deal with the Government while at the same time asking for assistance in the further redevelopment of Carrara or — more likely — the construction of an entirely new stadium, similar in size and scale to Geelong's Skilled Stadium.

McLachlan conceded that the AFL would look at scheduling blockbuster games against big-drawing clubs and the Lions at the Gabba, but added: "For the Gold Coast to really own its team really needs to be playing the majority of its games out of the Gold Coast.

"When you look at teams like Collingwood and others you want to be able to deal with the capacity," McLachlan said. "We've always maintained that it would make sense to play larger games in the bigger Gabba venue."

Yesterday's launch was short on detail, with the new club's name and colours, executive and coaching staff and its mode of entry into the competition still yet to be decided. Southport Sharks president Alan Mackenzie, part of the bid team with John Witheriff and ex-Lions president Graeme Downie, said that the new team could potentially start in either the TAC Cup or the state-based competition, the AFLQ.

"The idea that's most popularly being floated is that we will have some ability to draft some Queensland talent at the end of this year, followed by participation in the draft for the 2009 and 2010 years," Mackenzie said. "That's what will be brought along by playing either in the AFLQ or playing in the TAC Cup competition in Victoria."

Mackenzie acknowledged there would be issues for young players drafted to the Gold Coast in 2009, who would effectively be denied the chance to play AFL football for at least two years.

Witheriff said former Brisbane Lions triple-premiership captain Michael Voss was "in the mix" for a coaching position. "The reality is though that there's a process … I'd be disappointed if Michael wasn't in the mix but I can guarantee you that there'll be a lot of other people in the mix as well," he said.

Brisbane Lions chief executive Michael Bowers talked up a potential rivalry between the two local teams, telling the Lions' Gold Coast members: "We won't forget you."

"We're hoping there's going to be a lot of dysfunctional families on the Gold Coast, with a couple of Gold Coast team supporters and a couple of Brisbane Lions supporters who get along 363 days of the year and the couple of days where we play each other it'll be daggers at dawn," Bowers said.